Reading for the Soul

I have always been a reader, and I have always liked to read. While there are all the practical applications for reading I had never been able to tell others why they should read without using one of those reasons. However, about a year ago I found my answer, and coincidentally enough it was while reading. East of Eden is a novel that was written by John Steinbeck, and it was while reading this novel that I found my answer. I found it is this line,"'But 'thou mayest'! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.'" Now, some probably do not find this quote that interesting or even life changing, but for me it was. It changed something in me. It touched my soul and made me realize why I read. I read because I am searching for the things that are able to rock my soul. That are able to change it in ways that nothing else can. I read now to find the lines that affect me; to find the lines that change my life and make me better.



Some may argue that they have other things that change their life, but I would ask them what those are. Video games, shopping, sports, traveling, movies those are all things that people do but that don't change them. Sure, sometimes some things get close, some movies have great messages and lines that penetrate the soul, but nothing comes close to the power of the written word because of its adaptability. Authors can only do so much, they can only help create a picture in the reader's mind, and it is up to the reader to make that something memorable, something of worth to them.

In the above quote all that was running through my mind were pictures of my life and the choices I had made to get there. The choices, either good or bad, still were choices and still an exercise of thou mayest. My mind then strayed to the future, and it saw all the power that I had to make that future the one that I wanted. It was that above all else that was most touching to me. Movies already have a set picture; they already fill the mind with something which is why, even though the story and the picture might be powerful, it can never fully penetrate all the way into the soul because it does not allow the mind to adapt it to something that directly influences that person.



The written word will not go away. It will always be here waiting to be read to be put in action and to be the one thing above all else that drives people to be more. So, I dare you to find a book, read it, and find the one line or so that touches your soul. I guarantee that if you have chosen your book correctly it will be there waiting to change your life.